


Shout Out Loud

by vassalady



Category: Marvel 616
Genre: Bittersweet, Break Up, Canon Gay Character, Ficlet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 07:31:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8524069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vassalady/pseuds/vassalady
Summary: Dennis and his boyfriend, FBI Agent Vernon Hatchway, share their goodbyes, but Dennis is still hopeful.





	

**Author's Note:**

> To celebrate Dennis Dunphy being canonically queer (revealed in next week's Captain America: Sam Wilson issue), I wrote this, pulling Hatch from the Nomad comic to use as his wrestling days boyfriend.
> 
> I am so happy that one of my favorite characters is now canonically queer. Very little beats that feeling.

Dennis closed his eyes as he stood on his terrace. It was quite an impressive terrace; while wrestling wasn’t his passion, it certainly paid very well.

The night was quiet. The buzz of insects and the hum of the pool’s pump were all that interrupted it. If he concentrated, he thought he could hear the distant sound of the highway. Maybe that was only his imagination, though.

There was a step behind him, and then a pair of arms wrapped around his torso. Dennis smiled. He didn’t open his eyes. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.”

Dennis placed his hand over Vernon’s and squeezed. Turning, a little awkwardly, he came face to face with Vernon’s tired, but happy, face.

“What are you doing out here?” Vernon asked.

Vernon was half a head shorter than Dennis; he was the perfect height for Dennis to easily kiss his dark forehead.

“Just thinking,” Dennis said.

“About?”

Dennis laughed and wrapped an arm around Vernon. They shifted so that they stood side by side, each with an arm around the other, leaning in together. “So nosy.”

“Man’s gotta do his job, am I right?”

“Mmhmm,” Dennis agreed.

It had been awhile since they’d been like this. Vernon traveled for work, and while the UCWF stayed local, Dennis was often training or in a match or getting another check up with the Broker’s people.

He told Vernon the pills were for his heart. It was the only lie he told.

“Hey, Dennis…”

The tone in Vernon’s voice made Dennis shut his eyes again. He pressed his face closer into Vernon’s cropped hair. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

Vernon pulled away. “Okay, who are you?”

Dennis furrowed his brow. “What?”

“The Dennis I know isn’t so pessimistic all the time.”

Dennis couldn’t help the bark of laughter and shook his head. “A man can have multitudes, you know.”

Vernon didn’t look convinced.

“Okay, okay, so what’s the great news?” Dennis said. He reached out for Vernon and pulled him closer again.

Vernon sighed, and Dennis could feel the tension in Vernon’s body. So it really wasn’t good news.

“I’m being transferred to Washington.”

“State?” Dennis said, knowing that’s not what Vernon meant. “That’s just a hop, skip, and a jump away, we can still-”

“There’s the Dennis I know.”

Vernon smiled at Dennis, brilliant and gorgeous and oh, Dennis’s heart ached. He loved this man.

If only this wasn’t the kindest break up ever.

“If you do ever get to the east coast, look me up?” Vernon continued.

“Always,” Dennis said. Vernon put his hand on Dennis’s cheek.

Their kiss lingered, two people who intimately knew each other taking comfort in that connection. Dennis’s heart swelled. He didn’t want to admit that his eyes stung, too.

They looked back out at Dennis’s property then, wrapped together, and stayed there for a long while. Neither spoke; they simply enjoyed one another’s company.

At last, Vernon squeezed Dennis’s torso. “So tell me. Did you really meet the Thing?”

Dennis laughed. “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

“I want to hear everything.”

“Is this an official investigation, agent?” Dennis teased.

They turned, still holding onto one another, and walked toward the house. “You’re an easy break, Dunphy. Spare us both the trouble and spill.”

The night was quiet, but Dennis wanted to stand on his roof and shout. He wanted to shout that he loved Vernon and always would. He wanted to shout for the past loves gone and the new ones he’d find. He wanted to shout for happiness and love and bittersweet goodbyes and joyous meetings.

Vernon was right; Dennis was a hopeless optimist and romantic. Even as this chapter of his life closed, even as he felt his heart clench with loss, Dennis looked forward to whatever life would throw at him next.

He was Demolition Dunphy, after all, and he was up to any challenge.


End file.
